Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The film is about the competition for the World Chess Championship between a 52 year old Soviet master with an ailing heart and a 35 year old impulsive Soviet defector who cannot wait to make Russia look bad. The premise of the movie is intriguing and I was looking forward to it but while it definitely held my interest I think when compared to the other Oscar winners (that I have seen so far) it does come up a little short. I'm not sure I can put my finger on why; as a film of the Cold war genre, it was interesting to see the politics behind the game but I would have liked to dwell more on the minds of the two protagonists. The delightful endgame nearly redeemed it for me and was a lovely way to round up the film.

When the game is over, the pawn and the king go back to the same box. Irish Saying

Note: I thought the title was a tad unimaginative and much preferred the original French one, which translates to The Fool's Diagonal (the Bishop is known as the Fool).